Clone of burned 'Senator' tree to be planted at Big Tree Park

The Senator is gone, but Big Tree Park near Longwood will soon have a 40-foot-tall offspring of the ancient baldcypress tree that caught fire and collapsed in January.

Several clones of the Senator were produced about 15 years ago when foresters took cuttings from the 3,500-year-old Senator and planted some of them at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

On Tuesday, Seminole County commissioners agreed to spend about $7,000 to buy one of the cloned trees from the university early next year and plant it at the park as part of a memorial to The Senator. County officials said they plan to hold a ceremony to celebrate the planting.

"We want to put it in a part of the park that is suitable for a baldcypress," said Steve Waring, the county's parks and recreation manager. "Hopefully, it will last 3,500 years."

Standing at 118 feet, and with a diameter of nearly 18 feet, The Senator had been a tourist attraction for decades, awing visitors to Big Tree Park.

But on Jan. 16, the ancient tree went up in flames. About a month later, theSeminole County Sheriff's Officearrested Sara Barnes, 26, and charged her with setting the fire. Barnes said she burned the tree because she needed light to see the drugs she was using, according to authorities. She is free on bond while awaiting trial.

"Something tragic happened to one of the oldest baldcypress trees in the world," he said. "But now we have an actual descendant of that tree. And we can let everyone know about the tree and what happened. ... Science is actually now prolonging the life of The Senator."

Commissioners agreed to install nearly $60,000 worth of fencing around the remaining stump and saplings of The Senator; Lady Liberty, another baldcypress at the park estimated at 2,000 years old; the cloned tree after it's planted; and the park itself.

County officials said they hope to reopen Big Tree Park in coming months after workers remove remnants of The Senator.